I want to replace pkg-config with pkgconf, an implementation that's actively maintained. https://github.com/pkgconf/pkgconf/ pkgconf is reportedly both faster and has saner behavior. For example, right now `pkg-config --exists OpenEXR` fails if glu is not installed, since OpenEXR has a "private" dependency on glu. However, `pkg-config --libs OpenEXR` works since pkg-config ignores private dependencies here. Private dependencies are relevant for static linking, analogous to a shared library's DT_NEEDED tags. `pkg-config --static --libs OpenEXR` lists the libraries necessary to statically link OpenEXR. pkgconf is more consistent and follows private dependencies only if --static is given, regardless of whether --libs or --exists is used. pkgconf is in use by at least FreeBSD, NetBSD, Fedora and Mageia; so we wouldn't be the first ones making the switch. There's already a package in [community] owned by demize. I would make some adjustments before releasing it to [testing]. Any objections?